Method for providing learning courses via a service center supporting a variety of products

ABSTRACT

A service center receives a request from a remote device for accessing a learning course describing operations of a product that has been registered with the service center. In response to the request, a media stream representing the learning course is transmitted to the remote device to allow a user of the remote device to navigate the learning course, without requiring the user to directly access a training facility of a product provider associated with the registered product. User interaction with the learning course is tracked and analyzed to generate an analysis result, where the analysis result is utilized to generate or identify a subsequent learning course specifically tailored to the user. The analysis result is transmitted to the product provider to allow the product provider for the purpose of determining customer satisfaction.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to providingproduct services. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relateto providing training courses associated with products supported by aservice center.

BACKGROUND

Prior to the advent and prolific use of distributed network environmentssuch as the Internet, customer service sessions typically occurred overa teleconference between a customer service agent or service specialistand a customer. These teleconferences, which incidentally are still verypopular today, are initiated by a customer placing a phone call to acustomer service agent. The customer service agent's phone receives thecall through a public-switched telephone network (PTSN). Many supportcenters handle a large volume of inquiries, usually by phone, for sales,information, customer support and other services. Typical supportcenters provide the ability to route multiple incoming,customer-initiated calls to agents which provide sales, information, orsupport on behalf of an entity interested in establishing or maintaininga relationship with the customer.

Modern support center systems selectively route incoming calls based ona number of factors such as the number called or dialed, the originatingnumber, the queued sequence of the caller, the geographic location ofthe caller, accumulated caller history, and other relevant criteria.Once the system has evaluated the inbound caller's information, if any,the system searches for an available agent to service the call.Availability of agents may be dependent on any number of factors such asa skill level or a schedule of the agent. The number of agents withinthe contact center and available to the system may often be limited bythe physical space available for the agents to operate. Similarly,stores may only staff an anticipated amount of in-store associates forsupport purposes. Contact centers have to deal with a limited number ofagents to handle a large number of incoming customer calls.

As the Internet is getting more popular, customer service providers nowprovide for computer-based customer service interaction by way of theWorld Wide Web. Instead of initiating a customer service session byusing the phone or speaking with an in-store associate, customers mayaccess a website and engage in a web-based customer service session tomake inquiries (e.g., technical support) and/or perform tasks (e.g.,paying bills). Web-based customer service sessions offer numerousadvantages over teleconference-based sessions. For example, thegraphical user interface of web-based customer service applicationspermit customers to view illustrations or written explanations and thusameliorate the miscommunications which may arise with oral conversationsbetween a customer service agent and a customer.

Further, web-based customer service sessions enable a customer todirectly target his/her needs on the website and thus reduce the timeexpended both in navigating through a series of vocal menu choicesinapplicable to the consumer's particular needs and in waiting to speakto a service agent. Significantly, web-based customer service sessionsare particularly cost-effective for the customer service provider giventhat fewer agents are required to support customers. Indeed, customersare provided functionality for finding answers to their questions orperforming tasks without any help from a live agent. These customerservice sessions may be entirely computer-based or, alternatively,involve interaction with a customer service agent.

Online training, also referred to as eLearning, has been widely providedover the Internet in recent years. Typically, a user can browse throughan article or interactive training session in a form of multi-media.There has been a lack of online training options provided by a supportcenter in an efficient way. Typically, online training is provided by aproduct manufacturer or a retailer that is specifically tailored to themanufacturer or a retailer. Such an implementation sometimes tends to bemore expensive and inefficient to maintain. The online training tends tobe one-way presentation and customer satisfaction of the online trainingis limited. There has also been a lack of efficient mechanism to utilizeuser interaction with the training for other uses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providing life cycleservices to products according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a service centeraccording to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a learning courseaccording to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing learningcourses to users according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing learningcourses to users according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot illustrating a graphical user interface (GUI) ofa course platform according to one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments and aspects of the inventions will be described withreference to details discussed below, and the accompanying drawings willillustrate the various embodiments. The following description anddrawings are illustrative of the invention and are not to be construedas limiting the invention. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the presentinvention. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventionaldetails are not described in order to provide a concise discussion ofembodiments of the present inventions.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin conjunction with the embodiment can be included in at least oneembodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in oneembodiment” in various places in the specification do not necessarilyall refer to the same embodiment.

According to some embodiments, a service center (also referred to as asupport center) is configured to provide online training coursesregarding a product supported by the service center on behalf of aproduct provider. The product may be acquired by the user and registeredwith the service center. The courses are provided to users by theservice center on behalf of a product provider that provides theproduct. In one embodiment, in response to a request for accessing anonline course, a learning system of the service center identifies,renders, and transmits a course segment to a remote device of a user.The request may include a machine-readable code (e.g., quick response(QR) code) that is obtained via a mobile device of the user by scanningthe machine-readable code disposed on a product using a scanner orcamera of the mobile device. The course or courses are identified basedon the machine-readable code without having the user to specificallyprovide detailed information identifying the courses. Based on themachine-readable code, functional capabilities of the mobile device mayalso be determined by the service center. The courses may be furtherrendered (e.g., in a form of a media stream) in view of the capabilitiesof the mobile device such that the courses can be properly presented bythe mobile device.

While the user navigates the course segment, according to oneembodiment, user interaction with the course is tracked and captured bythe service center. The user interaction may be monitored and tracked byan application running at the mobile device and transmitted from themobile device to the service center over a network. An analysis isperformed by the service center on the tracking data and an analysisreport is generated. The analysis report may be provided to the productprovider to allow the product provider to determine customersatisfaction or other product and marketing purposes (e.g., targetedadvertisements). For example, based on the analysis, another product maybe presented to the user as a suggestion that may help solving user'sconcerns. The analysis report can also be utilized to customize furthercourses for the user or for other users. The analysis report can also beutilized to generate a new article or modify an existing article of aself-support knowledgebase (e.g., Web site hosting solutions to commonissues such as frequently asked questions or FAQ). The analysis reportmay also be utilized to update or spin off a discussion thread forfurther discussion in an online community or social community.

According to one embodiment, a course is presented in a manner such thata user can get in touch with an agent for live support, a specialistassociated with a self-support knowledgebase, friends of a socialcommunity to further engage discussions of topics associated with thecourse. In one embodiment, if the user is unsatisfied with a descriptionof a particular course, the user can instantly activate an embeddedcontrol (e.g., button) at a particular place in time to request afurther help or access additional information related to the course. Forexample, during navigating a course, a user can activate a control orbutton embedded or associated with the course to request a live supportwith an agent or specialist. Based on the request received at theservice center, an agent who is familiar with the description of thecourse or product is identified and selected to get in touch with theuser via a communications channel (e.g., voice, chat, email) that ispreferred by the user and is available (e.g., based on a configurationof a client that is associated with the course) to the agent.Alternatively, the user can activate a control or button from the courseto access a self-support knowledgebase (e.g., Web site) for a particulararticle that is related to the content of the course. Furthermore, theuser can also activate a control or button from the course to access orparticipate in a discussion forum of a social community that is relatedto content of the course.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providing life cycleservices to products according to one embodiment of the invention.Referring to FIG. 1, system 100 includes a mobile device 101 of a user,customer, or individual communicatively coupled to service center 102over a network. The network may be any kind of networks. Mobile device101 may be any kind of mobile devices including, but is not limited to,a laptop, mobile phone, tablet, media player, personal digital assistantor PDA, etc.

Service center 102 may be implemented in a centralized facility orserver. Alternatively, service center 102 may be implemented in multiplefacilities or servers in a distributed manner (e.g., cloud-based serviceplatforms). Service center 102 provides services to a variety ofproducts or services from a variety of clients or vendors. A client maybe a manufacturer, a distributor, a retailer, a service provider orbroker, a purchasing facility (e.g., Amazon™, Expedia™, or ISIS™), or acombination thereof. In one embodiment, service center 102 includesservice APIs 104 to communicate with other systems such as mobile device101, client's site 117, social communities 116, contact center 114including agents or experts 115, client backend systems 118,manufacturer backend systems 119, eCommerce sites 120 and otherauxiliary systems (e.g., billing system). Service center 102 can handleservice requests from customers of multiple clients. For example, aservice center may handle customer service requests for a number ofretail sales companies, sales calls for catalog sales companies, andpatient follow-up contacts for health care providers. In such astructure, the service center may receive service requests directly fromthe customers or through client support management systems.

In one embodiment, service center 102 further includes community servicesystem 105, support services system 106, learning system 107,self-support system 108, and data warehouse 109. Support services system106 is responsible for handling support services requests from theusers, including identifying and registering a product, creating aninstance case context, selecting and assigning a customer representative(also referred to herein as an agent, specialist, or expert) to providesupport services to the users, and managing work flows, etc. An agentmay be selected based on a skill set or expertise of the agent, as wellas other factors such as geographic location, of the agent. The term“agent,” “specialist,” or “expert” refers to a service center personnelor a computerized application, in some cases, that respond to customerrequests. An agent may be locally situated at the service center orremotely situated over a network. Throughout this application, the termsof “agent,” “specialist,” and “expert” are interchangeable termsdependent upon the circumstances. In most cases, the term of “agent”collectively refers to a customer representative, a support agent, asupport specialist, a support expert, or a combination thereof, whichmay be a service center personnel and/or a computerized application.Further detailed information concerning service center 102 and/orsupport service system 106 can be found in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/085,397, filed Apr. 12, 2011, which isincorporated by reference in its entirety.

In one embodiment, community service system 105 is responsible forcommunicating with social communities 116 via an API, for example, topost a message received from a user and to route the responses receivedfrom social communities 116 back to the user. Service center 102 furtherincludes a post market service system (not shown) that is responsiblefor handling post market activities associated with the registeredproducts, including selling a registered product on eCommerce sites 120and arranging a disposal facility to dispose or recycle the product,etc.

According to one embodiment, in addition to registering a product withthe service center, a user can also register, for example, through theapplication running within a mobile device, one or more socialcommunities and/or one or more eCommerce sites by storing the necessarycredentials (e.g., usernames and passwords) of the servers hosting thesocial communities and eCommerce sites in a database (e.g., userdatabase) of the service center, where the database is associated with auser the mobile device. Subsequently, the user can transmit a salesrequest to sell or dispose a registered product by specifying one ormore of the eCommerce sites.

In response to the sales request, the post market service system ofservice center 102 is configured to retrieve the necessary credentialsfor the specified one or more eCommerce sites and arrange the specifiedeCommerce sites for selling the product together with the associatedcredentials to allow the eCommerce sites to authenticate the user forthe purpose of selling the product, such that the user does not have toprovide the necessary credentials at the point in time of the salesrequest and the user does not have to provide detailed information ofthe product to be posted on the eCommerce sites describing the productto be sold. A single sales request received from the mobile device canspecify multiple eCommerce sites. The service center can also arrange adisposal facility to dispose (e.g., recycle) a registered productwithout having a user to specifically contact the disposal facility.

Similarly, a user can also post a message to one or more of theregistered social communities from the application running within themobile device without having to individually access the socialcommunities. In one embodiment, a user can transmit a request frommobile device 101 to service center 102, where the request includes amessage to be posted and one or more community identifiers identifyingone or more registered social communities. In response, communityservice system 105 of service center 102 is configured to retrieve theassociated credentials from the database and to post the message to thespecified social communities together with the associated credentialsallowing the social communities to authenticate the user, without havingto prompt the user for their same credentials each time. Furtherdetailed information concerning community service system 105 and/or thepost market service system can be found in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/185,213, filed Jul. 18, 2011, which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

In one embodiment, service center 102 further includes a messaging oradvertisement system (not shown) that is responsible for handling anymessages received from a variety of partners or parties, such as clientsites 117, client backend systems 118, manufacturer backend systems 119,and eCommerce sites 120. Messages may be related to the registeredproducts of the user, such as, promotions, rewards, and recall messages.Messages may include advertisements from a variety of advertisementproviders.

In one embodiment, a user can configure a set of one or more rules tospecify whether certain types of messages or advertisements receivedfrom vendors or parties (e.g., retailers, manufacturers, socialcommunities, or other advertisement providers), which may or may not berelated to a registered product, should be routed to the user. Theserules serve as part of message delivery or filtering rules. The servicecenter engages with the related parties to allow the related parties toget in touch with the user by sending certain messages such as productpromotions, rewards, and/or recalls, etc. to the user. The servicecenter may send a message to a user via one or more communicationschannels preferred by the user, which may also be configured as a set ofrules and stored in a database associated with the user.

According to another embodiment, an advertisement received from a vendor(e.g., a client to the service center) is delivered by the servicecenter to a mobile device of a user based on a set of delivery rulesassociated with the user. The advertisement is displayed on a display ofthe mobile device by an application running therein. In addition, theservice center and/or the application are configured to trackinteractions of the user with respect to the displayed advertisement todetermine user behaviors, patterns, or trends in view of the displayedadvertisement. An analysis is performed on the user interaction and theresult of the analysis may be utilized to configure furtheradvertisement delivery by the service center and/or the vendors.

According to another embodiment, service center 102 is configured toidentify users that have at least one common product registered with theservice center and are also members of a social community. The servicecenter is configured to send a message to those users to invite them toconnect (e.g., becoming friends or following a friend) with each othervia the social community. The social community is hosted by a thirdparty and communicatively coupled to the service center over a network.The service center may also deliver messages or items posted by one ofthose users to another one of those users on behalf of the socialcommunity, without requiring such users to individually or directlyaccessing the social community. The service center can also delivermessages or items to a particular user posted by other users of thesocial community, where the messages or items are related to aregistered product of that particular user.

According to a further embodiment, an application running on a mobiledevice provides a user friendly graphical user interface (GUI) to allowa user to configure a set of one or more delivery rules concerningwhether certain types of messages or advertisements should be receivedat the mobile device from a service center. The service center isconfigured to deliver messages or advertisements on behalf of a messageor advertisement provider, which can be a client to the service center,a retailer, a manufacturer, a social community, or other contentproviders. A user can utilize the GUI to configure, for each of theproviders, whether a message associated with a particular registeredproduct of the user or all products in general related to the providershould be received by the mobile device. The settings of the deliveryrules are then transmitted from the mobile device to the service centerto allow the service center to deliver subsequent messages oradvertisements on behalf of the message or advertisement providersaccordingly. Further detailed information concerning the advertisementsystem can be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/185,309, filed Jul. 18, 2011, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

In one embodiment, data warehouse 109 includes product database 110,client database 111, user database 112, and knowledgebase 113. Productdatabase 110 is configured to store any data related to the registeredproducts including user manuals, etc. Client database 110 is configuredto store information related to clients such as client's preferredcommunications mechanisms. User database 112 is used to storeinformation related users, such as, for example, registered productsassociated with a user, communications channel preference of a user,credentials necessary for a user to access other sites, and/or messagingfiltering settings of a user, etc. Knowledgebase 113 is used to storeknowledge collected and compiled over a period of time, which can beused by agents 115 and/or users for self-support purposes.

In one embodiment, service center 102 further includes a multi-channelcommunication system (not shown) to provide one or more communicationchannels to any user or client to concurrently access service center102. Examples of communication channels include email, chat, texting(e.g., short messaging services or SMS), voice (e.g., automated IVR,real-time, or VoIP), video, Web (e.g., Web conferencing), and/or onlinecommunity forum (e.g., Facebook™ or Twitter™), etc. Note that themulti-channel communication system may be fully or partially integratedwith service center 102 or alternatively, it may be maintained orprovided by a third party or partner (e.g., communicatively coupled viaservice API 104 over a network). Service center 102 further includes anautomatic caller distribution (ACD) system (not shown) to receive,route, and manage voice calls exchanged via the multi-channelcommunication system.

A customer can obtain support services from service center 102 via avariety of communication mechanisms. A customer can initiate a supportrequest to contact a live agent such as agents 115 in a live manner.Alternatively, a customer may browse certain knowledgebase, such as KB113 via self-support system 108, in an attempt to find a solution to aproblem of a product he/she purchased from a manufacturer via a clientof service center 102.

According to one embodiment, service center 102 further includes asecurity system (not shown) to authenticate a user of mobile device 101in order to allow the user accessing services provided by any of systems105-108. The security system is configured to provide multiple login andauthentication options to a mobile device to allow a user to select oneor more of the options to access service center 102. Thelogin/authentication options include, but are not limited to, atraditional username and password login/authentication option, a voicelogin/authentication option, and an image login/authentication option.These options can be utilized individually or in combination dependentupon a particular user configuration or preference, which may bespecified and stored in a user profile maintained by service center 102,as part of user database 112. One login/authentication option can beutilized in addition to another login/authentication option oralternatively, one login/authentication option can be utilized as abackup option when another login/authentication option fails.

In one embodiment, in response to a user selection of a voice loginoption, the security system causes mobile device 101 to presentpredefined one or more phrases and to request the user to speak thepresented content to a microphone of the mobile device. A voice recorderof mobile device 101 is configured to capture a voice streamrepresenting the one or more phrases spoken in real time by the user.Mobile device 101 then transmits the captured voice stream to servicecenter 102 over a network. In response, the security system isconfigured to authenticate the user by matching the received voicestream against another voice stream that has been previously registeredand stored in a database associated with the user of the service center.

Similarly, a user can also initiate an image or video login option fromits mobile device. According to one embodiment, in response to a userselection of an image login option, mobile device 101 requests the userto capture one or more images of the user at the point in time using acamera of mobile device 101. Mobile device 101 then transmits thecaptured image(s) to service center 102 over a network. In response, thesecurity system of service center 102 is configured to authenticate theuser by matching the received image(s) against other image(s) that havebeen previously registered and stored in a database associated with theuser of the service center. The previously recorded voice and/or imagereferences may be stored, for example, by a registration system (notshown), in a user account as part of user database 112. Once the servicecenter has successfully authenticated the user, the user can obtainsupport services or access resources available from the service centeras described above regarding one or more products or services that havebeen registered by the user. Further detailed information concerning thesecurity system can be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/213,000, filed Aug. 18, 2011, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

According to one embodiment, service center 102 further includeslearning or training system 107 configured to provide learning coursesto users on products that are supported by service center 102 on behalfof product providers (e.g., clients). In one embodiment, in response toa request for accessing an online course, learning system 107identifies, renders, and transmits a course segment to a remote deviceof a user. While the user navigates the course segment, according to oneembodiment, user interaction with the course is tracked and captured bylearning system 107. An analysis is performed by learning system 107 onthe tracking data and an analysis report is generated. The analysisreport may be provided to the product provider to allow the productprovider to determine customer satisfaction or other product andmarketing purposes (e.g., targeted advertisements). The analysis reportcan also be utilized to customize further courses for the user or forother users. The analysis report can also be utilized to generate a newarticle or modify an existing article of a self-support knowledgebase(e.g., Web site hosting solutions to common issues such as frequentlyasked questions or FAQ). The analysis report may also be utilized toupdate or spin off a discussion thread for further discussion in anonline community or social community.

According to one embodiment, a course is presented in a manner allowinga user to get in touch with an agent for live support via supportservice system 106, a specialist associated with a self-supportknowledgebase via self-support system 108, friends of a social communityto further engage discussions of topics associated with the course viacommunity service system 105. In one embodiment, if the user isunsatisfied, which may be determined by survey system 125, with adescription of a particular course, the user can instantly activate anembedded control (e.g., button) at a particular place in time of thecourse to request a further assistance or access additional informationrelated to the course, such as, for example, initiating a live supportsession with an agent or specialist, accessing a self-supportknowledgebase for further information, and/or accessing a socialcommunity for a particular discussion forum related to the course, etc.

Note that a service center described throughout this application is notlimited to a traditional service center or support center, nor is itimplemented in a single physical location. A service center describedherein represents a collection of service logic or providerscommunicatively coupled to each other over a network in a distributed ora cloud-based fashion. The term of a service center herein representsany kind of service providers that provide a variety of services tocustomers or users. As described throughout this application, a servicecenter can be a set of enabling cloud-based service APIs, which enable avariety of consumer product services and support offerings via anintelligent set of technologies providing automated and/or livecommunications. In one embodiment, services provided by a service centercan include, but not limited to: 1) user, product, and loyaltyregistration and support services; 2) product wish list, reviews, andcomparisons; 3) purchasing and accessorizing services; 4) socialcommunity support and integration services; 5) intelligent knowledgesupport services; and 6) integrated sales and product dispositionservices, etc.

Also note that an agent, an expert, or a customer representativedescribed throughout this application is not limited to a real person.The term of an agent, an expert, or a customer representative can alsorefer to any processing logic or functional block that is configured orprogrammed to provide automated services to a customer, for example, viaservices APIs of the service center, without a need of a real personinvolved. Such processing logic and/or functional blocks can beimplemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a support service system of aservice center according to one embodiment of the invention. System 200may be implemented as part of system 100 of FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2,according to one embodiment, learning system 107 includes trackingmodule 201, analysis module 202, and course rendering module 203, whichare configured to provide learning or training courses compiled incourse database 204 to a customer such as user of mobile device 101. Thecourses are provided to users by learning system 107 on behalf of aproduct provider that provides the product described by the learningcourse.

In one embodiment, in response to a request for accessing an onlinecourse, course rendering module 203 of learning system 107 identifies,renders, and transmits a course segment to a remote device of a user.The request may include a machine-readable code (e.g., QR code) that isobtained via mobile device 101 of the user by scanning machine-readablecode 210 disposed on a product using a scanner or camera of mobiledevice 101. Machine-readable code 210 can be a variety of codes such asa QR code, a serial number, a UPC code, a barcode, an image, etc. Thecourse or courses are identified from course database 204 based onmachine-readable code 210 without having the user to specificallyprovide detailed information identifying the courses.

For example, the user can use its mobile device to scan a productidentification code on the exterior surface of the product and accessthe courses provided by learning system 107. Note that the product inquestion does not have to be a registered product; it could just be aproduct that may be potentially purchased by the user, as long as theuser is a registered member of service center 102 and/or a productprovider of the product in question is a client of service center 102.

Based on machine-readable code 210 received from mobile device 101,according to one embodiment, functional capabilities (e.g., displayresolution, network bandwidth, processing power, current geographiclocation of the device, etc.) of mobile device 101 may be automaticallydetermined by service center 102, for example, without userintervention. Some of the device information may be collected whenmobile device 101 was registered with service center 102 by the user.The courses may be rendered (e.g., in a form of a media stream) bycourse rendering module 203 in view of the capabilities of the mobiledevice such that the courses can be properly presented by mobile device101. The courses may also be rendered based on user's previous learningactions. For example, based on the machine-readable code, courserendering module 203 is configured to determine the previous endpoint ofa course segment and to render a course segment having a starting pointthat will “pick up” the previous endpoint, such that the user does nothave to repeat the previously viewed content. The user learning historymay be monitored and tracked by tracking module 201.

While the user navigates the course segment, according to oneembodiment, user interaction with the course is tracked and captured bytracking module 201 of service center 102. The user interaction may bemonitored and tracked by application 103 running at mobile device 101and periodically transmitted from mobile device 101 to learning system107 of service center 102 over a network. In one embodiment, analysismodule 202 is configured to perform an analysis on the tracking data andto generate an analysis report. The analysis report may be provided to aproduct provider to allow the product provider to determine customersatisfaction or other product and marketing purposes (e.g., targetedadvertisements). In this situation, a product provider is a client ofservice center 102 and the analysis report may be transmitted to theclient such as client backend systems 117. Alternatively, analysismodule 202 may invoke a customer satisfaction (CSAT) system, which maybe maintained within service center 102 or by a remote third partyvendor, to compute a customer satisfaction metrics and provide thecustomer satisfaction metrics to the client.

In one embodiment, based on the analysis, a new or related product isidentified and recommended to the user. If the user decides to acquirethe recommended product, service center 102 may allow the user to accessan eCommerce site to acquire the recommended product. Service center 102is configured to automatically register the product and store theregistered product information in product asset store 205 associatedwith the user. Further detailed information concerning these embodimentscan be found in the above incorporated-by-reference applications.

In one embodiment, based on the analysis, course rendering module 203 isconfigured to customize or generate further courses for the user or forother users who may have similar concerns. The analysis report can alsobe utilized to generate a new article or modify an existing article of aself-support knowledgebase (e.g., a Web site hosting solutions to commonissues such as frequently asked questions or FAQ). The analysis reportmay also be utilized to update or spin off a discussion thread forfurther discussion in an online community or social community viacommunity service system 105.

According to one embodiment, a course is presented in a manner such thata user can get in touch with an agent for live support, a specialistassociated with a self-support knowledgebase, and/or a friend of asocial community to further engage discussions of topics associated withthe course and/or the associated product. In one embodiment, if the useris unsatisfied with a description of a particular course, the user caninstantly activate an embedded control (e.g., a button or a link) at aparticular place in time to request a further assistance or accessadditional information related to the course. For example, during or atthe end of a learning segment, survey system 125 may transmit a surveyinquiry to mobile device 101 to prompt the user whether the user issatisfied with the particular learning segment and collect the userresponse for further analysis. Meanwhile, one or more buttons or linksare presented to the user to allow the user to initiate a furtheraction.

For example, while navigating a course according to one embodiment, auser can activate a control or button embedded or associated with thecourse to request a live support with an agent or specialist. Based onthe request received at the service center and the tracking datacollected during the course, support service system 106 is configured toidentify and select an agent who is familiar with the description of thecourse and/or the product in question to get in touch with the user viaa communications channel (e.g., voice, chat, email) that is preferred bythe user (e.g., based on user preference previously configured andstored as part of a user profile) and is available (e.g., based on aconfiguration of a client that is associated with the course) to theagent. In addition, support service system 106 is configured to compileall the necessary information concerning the user (e.g., userpreference, user interactive history), the product in question, thelearning course currently presented to the user, as well as the trackingdata of the learning course collected by tracking module 201 and theanalysis performed by analysis module 202, generating a support sessioncontext. Support service system 106 then transmits the support sessioncontext to the selected agent to be available at the desktop of theagent, such that the agent has all the necessary information during alive support session, as described in the aboveincorporated-by-reference applications.

Alternatively, the user can activate a control or button from the courseto request accessing a self-support knowledgebase (e.g., Web site) for aparticular article that is related to the content of the course. Inresponse to the request, self-support system 108 is configured toidentify one or more articles that are related to content of thelearning course segment at the point in time from a self-supportknowledgebase hosted by a knowledgebase server such as a Web server. Theone or more articles may be identified based on the tracking data of thelearning course collected by tracking module 201 and the analysisperformed by analysis module 202. Self-support system 108 is configuredto transmit one or more links referencing the articles to mobile device101 such that the user can access the articles via the links from mobiledevice 101. In addition according to one embodiment, from theself-support articles, the user can also initiate a live support sessionwith an agent of service center 102 via a link or button presented alongwith the articles. Alternatively, from the self-support articles, theuser can access a related discussion forum hosted by an online communityvia community service system 105. Furthermore, since the user accessesthe community via self-support system 108, the user interaction with thearticles can be pinpointed and tracked by the self-support system andfed back to service center 102 for further analysis. For example, basedon the user interaction with the learning course and self-supportarticles, self-support system 108 is configured to generate furtherself-support articles to be posted in the self-support knowledgebase.

Furthermore, a user can also activate a control or button from thecourse to request access or participation in a discussion forum of anonline community that is related to content of the course. In responseto the request, community service system 105 is configured to identify adiscussion thread that is hosted by an online community and related tothe content of the course at the point in time. Community service system105 transmits information regarding the discussion thread to mobiledevice 101. According to one embodiment, community service system 105may automatically log into the online community on behalf of the userusing the corresponding credentials (e.g., username and password) thathave been previously provided to service center 102 and stored as partof database 207. As a result, the user does not have to provide the sameat the point in time, as described in the aboveincorporated-by-references applications.

Alternatively, according to another embodiment, the user can also sharethe course segment with its friends in an online community. For example,the user can activate a “share” button on a graphical user interfacepresenting the course to request sharing the course segment. In responseto the request, community service system 105 is configured to log in andaccess the online community and to request the sharing of the course bytransmitting a link of the course to the online community on behalf ofthe user. In this way, the user does not have to individually access theonline community in which the user has to launch another browser sessionand provide the necessary credentials in order to log into the onlinecommunity, which sometimes is inconvenient. Furthermore, since the useraccesses the community via community service system 105, the userinteraction with the community can be pinpointed and tracked by thecommunity and provided back to service center 102 for further analysisas described above.

Learning courses can be organized and maintained in a variety of formatsor structures. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of alearning course according to one embodiment of the invention. Referringto FIG. 3, a course may include multiple course segments and some of thecourse segments may represent entry points to the course at variousstages, which may be determined by user's initial information inquiryinto a topic, a category, a product, a service, and/or a support processin which the user is seeking education. For example, each entry pointmay be represented by a machine-readable code as shown in FIG. 3. When amachine-readable code is scanned and received by the learning system,the received machine-readable code is compared with those representingthe entry points of course segments. A course segment associated with anentry point having a matched machine-readable code is identified andtransmitted to user's device. Note that the learning course as shown inFIG. 3 is described for the purpose of illustration only. Some coursesegments may be closely related to each other (represented by solidlines) and some are remotely related to each other (represented by dashlines). Other formats may also be applied.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing learningcourses to users according to one embodiment of the invention. Method400 may be performed by learning system 107 described above. Referringto FIG. 4, at block 401, in response to a request (e.g., scanned QRcode), a learning platform is provided to allow a user to access alearning course related to a product supported by a service center. Thelearning course may be identified and selected based on amachine-readable code obtained by scanning the code using a scanner of amobile device of the user. The product may or may not be registered bythe user, as long as the product is supported by the service center(e.g., a product provider is a client of the service center). At block402, user interaction with the learning course is tracked and analyzed.The user interaction may be monitored by an application running at amobile device of the user and received at the service center.Alternatively, the user interaction may be tracked by a hosting platformthat hosting the learning course. At block 403, if the user isunsatisfied with the learning course (e.g., based on a survey conductedby the service center via the course), a communication session between auser and an agent for a live support session. Alternatively, at block404, the user is directed to a self-support platform to access certainarticles that may be related to a product of the learning course.Furthermore, at block 405, the user can access a discussion forumassociated with the learning course in an online community.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing learningcourses to users according to another embodiment of the invention.Method 500 may be performed by learning system 107 described above.Referring to FIG. 5, at block 501, in response to a request (e.g.,scanned QR code), a learning platform is provided to allow a user toaccess a learning course related to a product supported by a servicecenter. The learning course may be identified and selected based on amachine-readable code obtained by scanning the code using a scanner of amobile device of the user. The product may or may not be registered bythe user, as long as the product is supported by the service center(e.g., a product provider is a client of the service center). At block502, user interaction with the learning course is tracked and analyzedat block 503. At block 504, a new or updated course may be generatedbased on the analysis of the tracking data. At block 505, usersatisfaction data is compiled based on the analysis and the usersatisfaction data is transmitted to a client of the product (e.g.,product provider). In addition, another product may be recommended tothe user based on the analysis.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot illustrating a graphical user interface (GUI) ofa course platform according to one embodiment of the invention. GUI 600may be presented by mobile device 101. Referring to FIG. 6, GUI 600includes a display area to display a learning course, for example, in avideo stream received from a service center over a network. In addition,GUI 600 includes a product identifier 602 identifying a product relatedto the learning course and a short description 603 about the productand/or the course. Further a user can activate control 604 to access adiscussion forum that is related to the course or product.Alternatively, the user can request to contact an agent, for example,via voice 605, chat 606, and email 607. A user can also initiate orrequest a new course by activating control 608. Note that any of thebuttons or controls as shown can be activated by clicking, tapping, orvia a voice interactive command. Other configurations may exist.

As described above, a course can have a series of smaller coursesegments in various lengths (e.g., 15 to 60 seconds) which mayconstitute the overall course. After viewing a learning segment, theUser is prompted to continue with more information on the initialinquiry or start a new inquiry. By selecting “more information,” theuser is passed on to the next logical learning segment based on theinitial inquiry. By selecting a “new inquiry” the user is presented anew learning segment based on the new topic, category, product, service,support or other. In either case the support center collects data on allscans (requests) from the user as well as any and all learning segmentsviewed in part or in whole.

All data collected will be utilized to develop learning plans whichsupport the primary requests of the user and their needs. Theelimination of learning segments that are either not wanted or needed bythe user aids to help controlling the costs of content creation (do notwant to build what people don't want or use), providing a betterexperience to the user by not providing unwanted content, and collectingmetrics on the precise targets of need which can then be provided backto retailers, manufacturers, service companies to ensure the propersupport is available for the user. At any time during the viewing oflearning content the user has the ability to add the product spokenabout to a wish list which will allow them to view in further detail,compare to other products and services or to keep as a possible futurepurchase item. A user may enter specific information about a product orservice to access learning segments to educate them on their pendingpurchase. A learning course may prompt a user throughout a course orlearning segment in order to collect user information such as sex, age,size, color preference, product type, product preference, spendinghabits, buying behavior, preferred brands, and other demographicinformation, etc.

The collected information may be utilized to understand an individual inorder to intelligently provide other services such as possible upsell orcross sell for products and services. All of the information will bepersisted with their user registration to the support center. Here thesystem will have information additionally about their recent and pastpurchases in which to leverage for suggested learning segments thatwould benefit the user. A learning course provides only the necessarylearning segments to the user based on the collected information, whicheach learning segment educating the user on “why” the product isrecommended (in the example, the user takes 5 learning segments, gainingbrand knowledge along the way). A learning segment uses user informationto suggest the best available product. After each learning segment, theuser is asked questions/provided options, which guides them to the nextappropriate learning segment—eventually leading to the suggestedproduct. A learning course provides the user a summary of reasons forthe suggested product. All learning segments (e.g., videos, tutorials,information) are available to the user for future reference.

Further, a user is able to request phone (click to talk), chat (click tochat) or email support channel at any point during the learning coursein the event that information was not available, not correct or for anyother reason. The available channel a user is allowed to select isdetermined by: a) the client program supporting the products orservices; and b) the channels the user has selected as the channels theyprefer to communicate via. The user cannot utilize a preferred channelif the client is not allowing that channel. At any time in the process auser has the ability to share what they have viewed (learned) with theirfriends on Facebook, Twitter, other who they believe will benefit fromthe learning content.

The techniques described above can be applied to a variety ofsituations. For example, a retail customer is looking forproduct-specific sales, support, troubleshooting or policy informationfor which a service center provides customer phone support and onlinemanaged website support. In this example, the retail customer accessesonline knowledge engine and asks a support question that is notavailable there. Support specialists collaborate on a knowledge articleand determine a new or better solution. The retail customer would likemore information about a specific product and utilizes mobile its mobiledevice and QR scanner application to scan product QR code to accessproduct information (eLearning course). The QR code app completes scanand takes the retail customer to a URL for the product information.

Meanwhile, the learning system determines a video resolution best suitedfor the mobile device and displays an eLearning course on the specificsof the desired product. The retail customer walks through the eLearningcourse performing any interactive requests as needed. The retailcustomer completes the course and is prompted whether their questionsabout a specific product was answered. If the retail customer selects“no” the customer is prompted to request more assistance (e.g., onetouch button). The retail customer has the option to enter a usercommunity for assistance or to enter into a self-help system. It isassumed that the retail customer selects the self-help system (knowledgeengine) and types an inquiry question. The knowledge engine checks itsdatabase of professionally developed answers in the collaborationplatform and returns best possible answers to retail customer. Theknowledge engine also records customer data such as IP location,browser, mobile device, time of day, etc.

If the retail customer is satisfied (via a survey) with the response,the system completes an interaction wrap up by saving all interactionactivity. If the customer is unsatisfied, the system may flag to allowan agent to follow up with the customer subsequently. Alternatively, theretail customer can request a live support session by activating the“one touch” support button. In this example, it is assumed that thecustomer selects a chat request with an available specialist. The systemreceives a chat request and looks for an available specialist. Anavailable specialist is located and the retail customer is forwarded tothe specialist for support. Based on the retail customers activity thespecialist identifies an eLearning course the customer has viewed andthe self-help questions asked. The specialist works with the customer toidentify an answer to their question and the retail customer receivesthe answers to their questions, and the two are disconnected. Inaddition, the specialist completes interaction by performing standardwrap up duties as well as submitting the new questions and associatedanswer for review and approval to add to the self-help system. Theretail customer is prompted to evaluate the quality of the supportinteraction and the system completes an interaction wrap up by savingall interaction activity, survey, etc. Furthermore, the supportspecialist may identify that the knowledge article (answer) is notcompletely accurate and submits changes on the fly, and provides themodified answer to the customer at the point in time.

According to some embodiments, community specialists may monitor theknowledge system to identify certain “unanswered” questions from aretail customer knowledge engine which provides reporting on the answerquality. The unanswered questions are pulled into the collaborationcommunity and tagged as a “new question” to be worked on by supportspecialists or subject matter experts (SME's). The support specialistsand/or SME's collaborate to construct and document a resolution to theretail customers' question or to enhance answers for low quality answers(per retail customer feedback) in the collaboration platform.Clients-approve support specialists and/or SME's collaborative answersthat are ready to be professionally developed. Once the document iscompleted, the support specialist/other will tag the document “forapproval.” Questions are processed through an approval stream oncecreated. Technical writer professional constructs the professionallyanswered question in a clean layout. Once the new professional answer isapproved then the document is to be tagged with an “approved” tag forpublishing in a subspace. Upon completion of all approvals, the newanswer is mapped (via a URL) to the right question in the knowledgesystem to allow for a proper answer the next time the question is askedby a retail customer (or any other customer type). Once the mapping ofquestion to answer is complete, the document is to be tagged as“published.” An answer engine is now able to leverage the new“published” content for the next self-help request from a retailcustomer. Customers who previously asked the question and did not getthe appropriate response are notified with the new professional answer,for example, as a follow-up action.

Some portions of the preceding detailed descriptions have been presentedin terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations ondata bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the ways used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to adesired result. The operations are those requiring physicalmanipulations of physical quantities.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion, itis appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as those set forth in the claims below, refer to the actionand processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computingdevice, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers andmemories into other data similarly represented as physical quantitieswithin the computer system memories or registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission or display devices.

Embodiments of the invention also relate to an apparatus for performingthe operations herein. Such a computer program is stored in anon-transitory computer readable medium. A machine-readable mediumincludes any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by amachine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable (e.g.,computer-readable) medium includes a machine (e.g., a computer) readablestorage medium (e.g., read only memory (“ROM”), random access memory(“RAM”), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flashmemory devices).

The processes or methods depicted in the preceding figures may beperformed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g. circuitry,dedicated logic, etc.), software (e.g., embodied on a non-transitorycomputer readable medium), or a combination of both. Although theprocesses or methods are described above in terms of some sequentialoperations, it should be appreciated that some of the operationsdescribed may be performed in a different order. Moreover, someoperations may be performed in parallel rather than sequentially.

Embodiments of the present invention are not described with reference toany particular programming language. It will be appreciated that avariety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachingsof embodiments of the invention as described herein.

In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have beendescribed with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. Itwill be evident that various modifications may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are,accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than arestrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for providingtraining, the method comprising: receiving, at a service center, arequest from a remote device for accessing a learning course describingoperations of a product that has been registered with the servicecenter, wherein the service center provides services to a plurality ofproducts on behalf of a plurality of product providers; in response tothe request, transmitting a media stream representing the learningcourse to the remote device to allow a user of the remote device tonavigate the learning course, without requiring the user to directlyaccess a training facility of a product provider associated with theregistered product; tracking and analyzing user interaction with thelearning course, generating an analysis result, wherein the analysisresult is utilized to generate or identify a subsequent learning coursespecifically tailored to the user; and transmitting the analysis resultto the product provider to allow the product provider for the purpose ofdetermining customer satisfaction.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: extracting a course identifier from the request, the courseidentifier that is obtained by scanning the machine-readable code usinga scanner of the remote device, wherein the remote device is a mobiledevice; and identifying the learning course from a plurality of learningcourses stored in a course database based on the course identifier,without having the user to specifically provide detailed informationabout the learning course.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:determining a functional capability of the remote device based on therequest, including a geographic location of the remote device; andrendering the learning course to a format that is suitable to bepresented at the remote device at the point in time.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: transmitting a survey inquiry to the remotedevice to determine whether the user is satisfied with the learningcourse; and presenting at least one option available to the learningcourse if the user is unsatisfied with the learning course.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, further comprising: in response to a first optionselected by the user, establishing a communications session between theuser and an agent using a communications channel that is preferred bythe user and available to the agent; and transmitting user informationof the user, product information of the registered product, and trackingdata of the learning course to the agent to allow the agent to provide alive support service to the user.
 6. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising: in response to a second option selected by the user,identifying an article of a knowledgebase server based on the trackingdata of the learning course, wherein the article describing a possiblesolution associated with a particular segment of the learning coursethat the user is accessing; and transmitting a link referencing theidentified article to the remote device to allow the user to access theidentified article of the knowledgebase server via the link.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising establishing a communicationssession between the user and an agent to enable the agent to conduct alive session with the user to resolve user's concerns, if the user isstill unsatisfied in view of the article provided by the knowledgebaseserver.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: generating asecond article based on the live session between the user and the agent;and publishing the second article on the knowledgebase server.
 9. Themethod of claim 4, further comprising: in response to a third optionselected by the user, identifying a discussion thread of a socialcommunity based on the tracking data of the learning course, wherein thediscussion thread discussing a possible solution to a product associatedwith a particular segment of the learning course that the user isaccessing; and transmitting a link referencing the discussion thread tothe remote device to allow the user to participate in the discussionthread via the link.
 10. A machine-readable storage medium havinginstructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, causethe processor to perform a method for providing training, the methodcomprising: receiving, at a service center, a request from a remotedevice for accessing a learning course describing operations of aproduct that has been registered with the service center, wherein theservice center provides services to a plurality of products on behalf ofa plurality of product providers; in response to the request,transmitting a media stream representing the learning course to theremote device to allow a user of the remote device to navigate thelearning course, without requiring the user to directly access atraining facility of a product provider associated with the registeredproduct; tracking and analyzing user interaction with the learningcourse, generating an analysis result, wherein the analysis result isutilized to generate or identify a subsequent learning coursespecifically tailored to the user; and transmitting the analysis resultto the product provider to allow the product provider for the purpose ofdetermining customer satisfaction.
 11. The machine-readable storagemedium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises: extracting acourse identifier from the request, the course identifier including amachine-readable that is obtained by scanning the machine-readable codeusing a scanner of the remote device, wherein the remote device is amobile device; and identifying the learning course from a plurality oflearning courses stored in a course database based on the courseidentifier, without having the user to specifically provide detailedinformation about the learning course.
 12. The machine-readable storagemedium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises: determining afunctional capability of the remote device based on the request,including a geographic location of the remote device; and rendering thelearning course to a format that is suitable to be presented at theremote device at the point in time.
 13. The machine-readable storagemedium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting asurvey inquiry to the remote device to determine whether the user issatisfied with the learning course; and presenting at least one optionavailable to the learning course if the user is unsatisfied with thelearning course.
 14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 13,wherein the method further comprises: in response to a first optionselected by the user, establishing a communications session between theuser and an agent using a communications channel that is preferred bythe user and available to the agent; and transmitting user informationof the user, product information of the registered product, and trackingdata of the learning course to the agent to allow the agent to provide alive support service to the user.
 15. The machine-readable storagemedium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises: in response toa second option selected by the user, identifying an article of aknowledgebase server based on the tracking data of the learning course,wherein the article describing a possible solution associated with aparticular segment of the learning course that the user is accessing;and transmitting a link referencing the identified article to the remotedevice to allow the user to access the identified article of theknowledgebase server via the link.
 16. The machine-readable storagemedium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises establishing acommunications session between the user and an agent to enable the agentto conduct a live session with the user to resolve user's concerns, ifthe user is still unsatisfied in view of the article provided by theknowledgebase server.
 17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim16, wherein the method further comprises: generating a second articlebased on the live session between the user and the agent; and publishingthe second article on the knowledgebase server.
 18. The machine-readablestorage medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises: inresponse to a third option selected by the user, identifying adiscussion thread of a social community based on the tracking data ofthe learning course, wherein the discussion thread discussing a possiblesolution to a product associated with a particular segment of thelearning course that the user is accessing; and transmitting a linkreferencing the discussion thread to the remote device to allow the userto participate in the discussion thread via the link.
 19. A dataprocessing system of a service center, comprising: an applicationprogramming interface (API) to receive a request from a remote devicefor accessing a learning course describing operations of a product thathas been registered with the service center, wherein the service centerprovides services to a plurality of products on behalf of a plurality ofproduct providers; and a learning system, in response to the request, totransmit a media stream representing the learning course to the remotedevice to allow a user of the remote device to navigate the learningcourse, without requiring the user to directly access a trainingfacility of a product provider associated with the registered product,wherein the learning system is configured to track and analyze userinteraction with the learning course, generating an analysis result,wherein the analysis result is utilized to generate or identify asubsequent learning course specifically tailored to the user, andtransmit the analysis result to the product provider to allow theproduct provider for the purpose of determining customer satisfaction.20. The system of claim 19, wherein the learning system is configured toextract a course identifier from the request, the course identifier thatis obtained by scanning the machine-readable code using a scanner of theremote device, wherein the remote device is a mobile device, andidentify the learning course from a plurality of learning courses storedin a course database based on the course identifier, without having theuser to specifically provide detailed information about the learningcourse.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein the learning system isfurther configured to determine a functional capability of the remotedevice based on the request, including a geographic location of theremote device, and render the learning course to a format that issuitable to be presented at the remote device at the point in time. 22.The system of claim 19, wherein the learning system is configured totransmit a survey inquiry to the remote device to determine whether theuser is satisfied with the learning course, and present at least oneoption available to the learning course if the user is unsatisfied withthe learning course.